New Star Trek Series Hires Bryan Fuller As Showrunner

Wooooohooooooo! Suddenly BUZZ is very excited by the newStar Trek series. Not that we weren’t excited before, mind, but now we’re really, really, really excited for the next instalment of the Trek franchise. Why? Two words: Bryan Fuller.

Yes, CBS has hired the man who recreated Hannibal for television as the new showrunner. Fuller’s also the man who created Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daises; he was a major force behind the first season of Heroes (when it was still good). He’s a massive Trek geek who started his TV writing career on Deep Space Nine and Voyager. And he’s also one of the loveliest people working in the US TV system and is great (funny, thoughtful and earnest) in interviews. He is also currently involved in the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for STARZ. His shows aren’t always massive hits but they’re always massive critical hits.

The new Trek series, produced by CBS Television Studios, will launch with a premier on the CBS network in early 2017a after which all subsequent episodes will debut on CBS All Access, the network’s digital video on demand and live streaming service. It will be the first original content created for CBS All Access.

“My very first experience of Star Trek is my oldest brother turning off all the lights in the house and flying his model of a D7 Class Klingon Battle Cruiser through the darkened halls. Before seeing a frame of the television series, the Star Trek universe lit my imagination on fire,” says Fuller. “It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand-new iteration of Star Trek with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman and boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before.”

“Bringing Star Trek back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan’s devoted care,” says executive producer Alex Kurtzman. “His encyclopedic knowledge of Trek canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds.”

“For the past 50 years, Star Trek has been a groundbreaking franchise that not only changed the landscape of television, but made a significant impact on pop culture,” says David Stapf, president, CBS Television Studios. “When we began discussions about the series returning to television, we immediately knew that Bryan Fuller would be the ideal person to work alongside Alex Kurtzman to create a fresh and authentic take on this classic and timeless series. Bryan is not only an extremely gifted writer, but a genuine fan of Star Trek. Having someone at the helm with his gravitas who also understands and appreciates the significance of the franchise and the worldwide fan base was essential to us.”